Been Hoping That You'd Drop In
by moviegeek03
Summary: Kurt thought he'd spend Christmas Eve alone with some Christmas movies and the quiet of his apartment. His plans drastically change when his upstairs neighbor decided it was a good idea to string lights on his roof in the middle of a minor snow storm...


Saw a Christmas AU prompt list on tumblr and had to give this one a try: "I live below you and I was minding my own business watching the snowfall out the window WHEN I SAW A BODY FALL ARE YOU REALLY PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS LIGHTS NOW"

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The snow continued to fall outside the fogged up window, mixing with the icy slush that had began piling up earlier in the week. It was gorgeous, so long as you could stay inside with the heater turned up and a mug of warm cocoa and watch it from your window. Which is what Kurt was doing, and enjoying. It was also how he would meet his elusive new neighbor Blaine.

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Kurt brought his hot chocolate to the couch, settling in with a blanket and his music. Soft Christmas tunes echoed throughout his apartment. He sighed and relaxed into the couch cushions. The thick clouds outside his window continued to drop a mix of fluffy and icy flakes onto his window sill. He silently thanked his bosses at Vogue for allowing him to spend the week working from home on his final articles for the year. The snow made it difficult to navigate the hectic city.

He knew others hadn't had it as lucky; he'd watched a few of his neighbors slide and glide their way towards the city. Kurt had no desire to venture out, but he greatly enjoyed watching the snow fall and the nearby Christmas lights shine through the flakes.

Kurt pulled his knees up and drew the blanket higher on his chest to fight the chill. He was about to take his final sip of cocoa and debating a movie when a rather large, un-snowflake like passed by his window with a shout and a twinkle.

"What the hell?" Kurt gasped, spilling the last drops of his coffee onto his blanket. He jumped up and looked out his window to see what had fallen. "Shit!" he cursed, realizing that the thing appeared to be a person tangled in a set of brightly colored Christmas lights.

Kurt hurried to climb off the couch, tangling himself in the blanket and cursing some more. He threw the now offending object back on the couch and tugged on his coat and boots. He didn't take the time to find his hat and clothes.

He rushed out his door moments later, nearly falling into the nearby snow in his haste. He managed to reach the fallen person without hurting himself on he ice, sliding only a little as he reached the person's side. He finds a curly haired man, his face half buried in the slush he's fallen into.

Kurt slides a little as he kneels down, his hands flailing out and landing on the man's back in the process. He groaned and flinched at the touch.

"Shit! Sorry!" Kurt sputtered, rubbing softly at the man's shoulder. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

The man groaned again but managed to turn his head so that Kurt could see the rest of his face. He recognized him as his upstairs neighbor despite the icy droplets stuck to his cheeks and eyebrows. The man blinked away some of the snow, but did not respond to Kurt's inquiries. Kurt squeezed his shoulder and then swiped at some of the snow. "Can you hear me?"

The man nodded, groaning again. "Yeah. I fine…I think."

Kurt smiled and helped him sit up. "You sure? I'm guessing you fell from…"

"My balcony," the man sighed, gesturing towards the top apartment.

"Oh," Kurt gasps. He soon realizes this is his neighbor from two floors up. He's only lived in the building for a few months, always leaving early in the morning and returning late at night from what Kurt has seen. Not that he stares…but the young man has a bad habit of knocking over the umbrella stand in the main hall. It was hard not to notice. It didn't hurt that the young man was cute either, but that was another story. Kurt shook his head a little and focused on the balcony. Now, he noticed a strand of garland wrapped around the balcony's railing and one string of lights around the window that lead out to the edge.

"I made the mistake of putting the garland on the rails first. Didn't think about how my foot would slide if I used the rails as my boost up to the roof."

"I'm not sure rails ever make a good ladder for anyone, let alone someone from the top floor."

"I'm fi—owe! Shit," the man cursed. He'd tried to push himself off the ground, but he fell back, clutching his wrist.

Kurt took the limb in his hand and gently palpitated around the bone. "I don't think you've broken it, but I'd say it's sprained." Kurt stood and helped the man up. "I should have some bandages and things in my medicine cabinet. I sprained my wrist last year thanks to this ice and, well, you know how it is first hand I guess. I live on the first floor. Why don't you come in and let me find it? I'm Kurt by the way." It all came out in a rush, Kurt's anxiety bleeding into his voice.

The man nodded. "I'm Blaine."

"Let me help you up, Blaine." Kurt grabbed his shoulders and helped him onto his feet, steadying him as Blaine swayed at first. Blaine followed Kurt inside, dripping with melting snow and shivering as he went.

"How about some new clothes too? I think you'll freeze to death if you don't."

 _"Cause baby's it's cold outside…"_ Kurt stopped and turned back to look at Blaine, making the man blush. "Sorry…wish I could blame that on a head injury or something, but I have a tendency to break out into song to cut tension when I'm nervous. Or I guess when I'm invading a stranger's apartment."

Kurt snorted, trying to not laugh. "Well we are neighbors," he called as he walked towards the bathroom and bedroom.

"True," Blaine admitted. "But I haven't actually met you before. Or any of my neighbors for that matter. Just our landlady."

Kurt soon returned with dry clothing and an ACE bandage. "These shrunk last time I washed them, so they shouldn't be too big. The bathroom is the first door on the left."

"Thanks, but, um, can you help me with my jacket? I don't know if I can get it off with my wrist."

"Oh! Of course! Here." Kurt helped Blaine take off the coat and the sweater underneath, leaving him in his damp tee shirt and the soaked sweats. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"My wrist is what hurts the most. I didn't really hit my head on anything but snow."

"Snow can be hard if it's been packed down enough."

"Yeah, I realized that. The rest of my body is more of a dull ache. Feels like I'm bruised but nothing major." Blaine bit his lip. "I'm just going to, um, change."

"Right! Go ahead! I'll get things for your wrist." They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Blaine finally sidestepped and walked around to the bathroom. Kurt rubbed at his face and made himself go about setting up the supplies to help Blaine's wrist. Yes. That was better than thinking about the cute neighbor he has been half pining over in his bathroom. Likely naked. Yes, setting up medical supplies was much smarter.

Kurt sighed to himself. It was true that he'd never formally met Blaine. But he'd seen him coming and going, talking occasionally to their landlady who lived across the hall. He was cute, and seemed rather adorable with his frantic movements and curly hair sticking out from underneath a lopsided beanie. Kurt had wanted to introduce himself countless times, but it just never seemed to work out. Now, the man –Blaine—was in his apartment with a sprained wrist. This was shaping up to be a rather eventful Christmas Eve.

Blaine returned minutes later wearing the dry sweats and holding his wrist against his chest. "Thanks again for the clothes." He continued to shiver despite the new clothes as he shuffled back to the couch.

"Why don't you sit on the couch? I'm going to turn on my fireplace."

"You have a fireplace in here?" Blaine glanced around. "I thought all the units were the same?"

"Oh yes! They are. But my dad got an electric one for me last Christmas. If you haven't noticed, this building isn't very new. It gets kind of drafty."

"A little," Blaine sighed. "But the rent is fair and the place is nice. Better than I expected to find when I moved here."

"Same," Kurt replied, cranking up the electric fireplace so that it kicked on for Blaine. "I used to live in a place out in Bushwick. The rent was great but it was so far from my job. I like here so much better. It's quaint and out of the way, but still closer."

"Where do you work?" Blaine leaned against the couch as Kurt sat next to him. He held his wrist out for Kurt.

"I work for . I started writing and posting fashion photosets this year. Things like that."

"Really? I love looking through those. When I have free time. Which is rare these days." He grimaced as Kurt took his wrist and began to wrap it with the bandage.

"That why you are decorating in the snow on Christmas Eve?" Kurt fastened the bandage with the metal strips and grabbed an ice pack from the coffee table. He activated it and placed in on Blaine's wrist. "Keep that elevated on some pillows while you ice it."

Blaine did as instructed before replying to Kurt's initial question. "Sort of. I hadn't planned to decorate until after Christmas, as odd as that sounds. I just," he shrugged, "haven't felt in the spirit. I've been working a lot and have to work on Christmas anyway. My mom was planning to stay home and my brother was going to visit her instead. She was going to come here for New Year's when I was off. But he decided he wanted to stay in California at the last minute instead of dealing with the trip to Ohio. So he buys my mom a plane ticket to come here, and doesn't tell me this until last night." He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "Her plane got delayed so she won't be here until the morning with the weather, so I thought I'd take advantage of the extra time to finish decorating outside. That way she wouldn't worry." He heaved a sigh, gesturing towards his wrist. "Lot of good that did me though."

Kurt bit his lip, knowing he was likely going to ask too personal of a question. "Why would your mom worry? I mean, I know parents worry over everything. Learned that from my dad."

That earned a small smile from Blaine, but it quickly disappeared. "Back when I was in college, I went all out for Christmas. My dorm looked like Christmas threw up in it. And my mom picked me up from campus every year to go back home. I never stayed there, but I always decorated for those few weeks when I was there for the end of the semester. But this year, I'm just slammed with work."

"Where do you work?" Kurt blushed as soon as he asked the next question. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to turn this into 20 questions on you."

"Don't be. I'm invading your apartment, on Christmas Eve no less." Blaine glanced around, seeing the tree and few presents. "Shit! I'm probably interrupting something and—"

"No," Kurt quickly interrupted. "My parents came last week. My dad and stepmom decided to do a cruise this year for themselves. Christmas has been hard on them the last couple years, so we thought we'd do something different. I'm going to visit friends for a lunch tomorrow afternoon. No big plans. Well, other than to watch _It's a Wonderful Life_ and eat too many Christmas cookies."

Blaine smiled again at that. "I'm an actor…to answer your question."

"Really?" Kurt sat up a little straighter at that.

"Yeah. I studied musical theater at University of Michigan for four years then worked in some smaller companies there for a little while. But I really wanted Broadway. So I came here, and I've been very fortunate. I knew some of the people working in Les Mis. So they helped me set up an audition."

"You're in Les Mis?" Kurt blinked in awe.

Blaine actually laughed this time. "It's not as glamorous as it sounds, but I do love it. I've been performing in the chorus for the past few months and understudying for Grantaire. I'm supposed to take over that part for the show tomorrow while the actor is out of town for the holidays. But I have to work another job until I start getting more parts or get promoted to a main cast member. So it's been a lot of long days and nights the last few months. I don't want my mom to worry." Blaine rubbed his forehead. "God, I'm so sorry for unloading on you. You were nice enough to come help me and here I am whining."

"I don't think you're whining. I think you are just tired." Blaine nodded. "Hey, why don't you join me? Hot chocolate? Cookies? Christmas movies? If you're mom has already had her flight delayed, I bet you'll have time in the morning to finish everything if you need."

"Well…"

"It sounds like you could use a break." Kurt grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and handed it to Blaine. He stood and pushed the plate of cookies closer on the coffee table. "What do you say?"

"I—"

 _"Beautiful, please don't hurry…"_

Blaine chuckled at the reminder of his earlier break into song. " _Maybe just a half a drink more."_ He bit into the cookie. "Though I think I better stick to hot chocolate tonight given how much I've already embarrassed myself in front of you."

"Please," Kurt scoffed. "You're fine," he countered. Kurt got them both hot chocolate nonetheless and they settled onto the couch, chatting a little until _It's a Wonderful Life_ began to play on the TV. They continued their conversations during each commercial, discussing their childhoods in Ohio, their love of musical theater, and everything in between. It was comfortable, so comfortable that once the movie ended, Kurt pulled up Netflix to turn on _Love Actually_ so that they could continue with the night.

It was not how Kurt had planned to spend to his night, but he couldn't remember a Christmas Eve that was that easy and relaxing in years.

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Kurt woke the next morning with a crick in his neck and a puddle of drool on the arm of the couch. He groaned and pushed himself up. The Netflix menu played on the TV where the boys had fallen asleep during the movie. Kurt rubbed at his eyes and stood. At the other end of the couch, the blankets Blaine had used were neatly folded with the used ice pack on top. Next to the ice pack laid a folded sheet of paper. Kurt picked it up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes so that he could focus.

He unfolded the note and smiled at the neat cursive.

 _Kurt –_

 _Thank you for the help last night, and not just with the wrist. Thank you for putting me back into the Christmas spirit and sharing your home with me. I know you'll argue that it isn't necessary, but I want to thank you properly with a Christmas present. You looked so excited when we discussed theater so I had the box office reserve you a ticket for the show tonight. You just have to give them your name. Maybe afterwards you can join my mother and I for a drink at my place?_

 _Hope to see you tonight! Merry Christmas!_

 _~Blaine_

Kurt's smile grew as he read. It looked like his Christmas was shaping up to be more exciting than he had expected after all.


End file.
